Seaside Heights mayor wants boardwalk protected soon after Labor Day

Aug. 19, 2013

MAKESHIFT DUNES

Seaside Heights Mayor Bill Akers wants to pile sand under the new boardwalk as temporary protection against another major storm. A permanent solution is unlikely before next year.

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SEASIDE HEIGHTS — It won’t be a wall of rocks. It may not be steel sheathing.

But Mayor Bill Akers wanted something in place this fall to protect his Sandy-beaten town until a more permanent structure can be built on Seaside Heights’ beaches, and he plans to honor that commitment.

As soon as Labor Day passes, Akers is calling for borough workers to fill the vacant space below the newly built boardwalk with sand and then create temporary dunes in front of that wooden walkway between Hiering and Sheridan avenues.

He said that should at least give the vulnerable northern section of town some protection while he continues work with state and federal agencies for what he really wants, but can’t have yet: a protective wall and dune.

“I don’t care if you signed an easement on Oct. 30. We’re not getting any dune protection until 2014, so we’re helping ourselves along with what they want to do,” Akers said.

The Army Corps of Engineers, with the state’s support and federal funds, is looking to build massive dunes and replenish wide beaches along the Jersey Shore. But before that project can come to Ocean County’s northern barrier island, the participating municipalities need to secure from each oceanfront property owner something called an easement, which is an agreement allowing access to complete the project.

Army Corps officials hoped to start work before next summer, but some municipal leaders like Akers say they can’t wait that long to protect their residents in case of another storm.

Akers wanted to have something in place before the next hurricane, and an in-house sand dune gives the borough more than it had against Sandy.

Meanwhile, an on-going partnership with experts and scientists from Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Science will help the borough determine its best options, temporary or otherwise, in shore protection.

Two members of the Rutgers team, Norbert Psuty, a professor emeritus, and George Guo, a professor in civil engineering, are exploring and designing the borough’s options in shore protection, Professor Richard Lutz, director of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Science, said. They hope to take their plans to an engineering firm as soon as possible, he said.

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They are trying to proceed as quickly as possible while also being cautious to ensure what is used in Seaside Heights works, Lutz said.

“One never knows when the next storm will hit,” he said. “We’re certainly anxious to do this in short order.”

A project like a steel wall, or whatever the borough ultimately uses, takes time and a lot of approvals. Specifically, a municipality needs land use permits from the Department of Environmental Protection, which would review the project, agency spokesman Bob Considine said.

The project has to stay within a certain cost so the borough can qualify for a Federal Emergency Management Agency mitigation grant. Akers said it cannot exceed the cost of the project it protects — the $7.7 million boardwalk that was rebuilt, largely with FEMA funding, after Sandy destroyed the old one.

The federal government conceptually approved a $40 million sheet metal project that would stretch four miles to protect both Mantoloking and Brick. The state and federal governments would cover the project cost.

The municipalities, like Seaside Heights eventually, would be responsible for any cost in installing and maintaining sand to cover the sheeting. They must also attain agreements from their oceanfront homeowners to access their private property to build the wall.

The wall acts as a short-term measure to protect the towns that can become part of the Army Corps of Engineers’ beach replenishment project, which the state backs and would be covered with federal funds. That project isn’t expected until at least next year.

“We want to incorporate this into the state’s dune project,” Akers said. “I applaud what the state wants to do, but I think we need a little bit more.”